Deborah Lashley-Johnson ‘98

Ms. Deborah Lashley-Johnson is an Attorney Advisor to the Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Before the publication of this article, Ms. Lashley-Johnson was tapped to be the Acting Director of the IP Attaché Program at the USPTO, where she manages and coordinates thirteen IP experts currently serving as U.S. diplomats in embassies and consulates in cities around the globe. She has been with USPTO since 2003. Between 2015 and 2021, she served as the USPTO’s Intellectual Property (IP) Attaché for the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the U.S. Mission to the United and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. Ms. Lashley-Johnson has worked on numerous IP and trade issues for the U.S. government at USPTO and for the U.S. Department of Commerce. She graduated with a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law in 1998.

How did you find yourself interested in IP law?

My father was an electronic technician. If he had an engineering degree, he would have been an engineer. He loved to tinker and I, in turn, loved being exposed to the law to protect those innovations. And I was self-aware that I was not cut out for Criminal Law. So, in my second year at law school, I took Peter Jaszi’s Copyright Law introductory class and the next level that spring, International Comparative Copyright Law. I was also interning at the U.S. Department of Commerce at the time.

What were you involved in outside of law school?

I was a full-time student on top of doing an unpaid internship and working at a restaurant. I was just looking for a really good internship that would lead to a really good job, so I was very one-track at law school. Your time can become very limited when you want that well-rounded work experience in the legal field. But in the beginning, many legal internships are unpaid, so you have to split your time with a job that is paid and there are only so many hours of the day. So, clubs and extracurricular activities didn’t make the cut for me. If students have the chance and opportunity to do clubs, I suggest doing them to make the law school experience well-rounded.

Did you do any journals on top of everything?

I did not! I think for me, I was so focused on doing my courses. I took licensing and IP courses. My internship at Commerce exposed me to new issues that I wanted to learn more about, so I took courses that touched on those issues such as International Trade, Computer Law, and Biodiversity. I didn’t have much time for anything else. In the end, everything worked out well for me. But back to my point about being a well-rounded student, if I had the opportunity to go to law school again, I might do things a little differently.

What doctrinal classes would you recommend students take if interested in copyright and trade law?
There are many intersections to law that you can find and take classes on. I remember taking a class on computer licensing in the late 90s, which involved a lot of cutting-edge issues concerning software law and whether contract law would apply to the area of software law. I was learning about foreign direct investments and conventional biological diversity, so I was grateful to have had an opportunity to work through those issues during my internship. Even if International Trade is not your thing, I have found many other intersections with IP, such as Public International Law (how you negotiate and develop, even soft law approaches like resolutions or recommendations for international bodies). In IP, there is a lot of science and technology, so any courses related to those fields are helpful. There’s also the Health and Bio-Pharmaceutical space.  In addition, at least in the government sector, we heavily rely on data. This is outside of law school, but taking economics or business courses will help to be able to look at a set of data and extrapolate information from it, in terms of development and overall economic trends. A lot of IP decisions are business judgments and involve an understanding of how businesses and entrepreneurs think about how IP fits into their worlds. It’s one thing to talk about a topic, and another to understand or know first-hand how that topic impacts that producer or that business.

So, do you think students should aim for a more well-rounded course load?

I would think so! To make yourself marketable whether through getting your information through formal training or online courses. Try to expose yourself to that knowledge and see whether it inspires you to seek an internship in that area. You will become more well-rounded, and you can zone in on your areas of interest. I was lucky enough to find something with a little bit of everything, so my day is never the same. There are just so many opportunities in the legal field and you’re able to study and work on challenging issues, especially in the area of IP and technology. So, this is an exciting time to be a law student.

Which areas of law interact with your work the most? 

There is a lot of normative work, particularly at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Public International Law is important when we’re negotiating or participating in technical discussions. At the World Trade Organization, at times, our discussions on IP are impacted by the work of other trade committees and the overall trade environment, so U.S. and WTO trade policy issues intersect. Overall, in working for the federal government, several legal disciplines may have an impact on an issue you are an expert in.  The interagency process allows us to maintain our coordination and gives colleagues an opportunity to contribute their knowledge to matters that intersect with yours. It’s important to be able to make those connections and have collaboration.

Regarding your practice, how has it changed since the pandemic started?

We haven’t missed a beat. The pandemic has allowed for more widespread use of virtual platforms and hybrid options. We can stay connected and collaborate on IP training with countries.  If time-sensitive discussions are needed on a legal and policy issue, it is still helpful to have a virtual option instead of relying on email where things can get lost in translation. It has made us more efficient and has allowed us to meet our internal capacity-building goals in providing services that are important to the domestic and international public. This doesn’t replace in-person meetings, but hybrid options have been a great stopgap measure at the highest point of health and safety concerns.

And how do you think it will change in the future?

A lot of articles talk about AI and how it’d either make the practice of law harder or easier, and in the area of IP, whether it will create more infringements. Regardless of where technology takes us, you still need lawyers to help develop policies and laws on these issues.